Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra), federal government and Attorney General for Pakistan (AGP) Malik Qayyum have been made respondents in the petitions filed by the Independent Media Corporation (Pvt) Ltd and Birds (Pvt) Ltd under Article 184 (3) of the Constitution. At the last hearing, Deputy Attorney General Nahida Mehboob Ellahi had sought time to get instructions from the government on the petitions. Advocate Mohammad Ali Mazhar will represent the petitioners.

Earlier the Sindh High Court (SHC) had dismissed the petitions as non-maintainable since at that time fundamental rights had been suspended due to emergency rule. Before proclaiming the state of emergency on Nov 3, 2007, the government had stopped the transmissions of all private television channels.

Later, the Pemra Ordinance was amended and after getting assurances from almost all private channels, transmissions were restored, except that of Geo News. The petitioners have pleaded for restoration of Geo News and Geo Super. Geo Aag and Geo Entertainment have already been allowed to air their programmes.
Source: Daily Tmes
Date:1/7/2008